Kossuth
, , RenewalDomain is not supported in Neverwinter Nights, Suffering | favored weapon = Tendril of flame (spiked chain) | worshipers = Druids, elemental archons, fire creatures, Thayans | cleric alignments = CN, LE, LG, LN, N, NE, NG }} Character and Reputation Patron to creatures of elemental fire and those entranced by the intricate dance and destructive powers of flame, Kossuth (koh-sooth) holds little affection for his followers on Toril. He does, however, reward them frequently, and his cult continues to spread at what some might term an alarming rate. A distant and alien entity, Kossuth seems to have some sort of plan for his mortal followers and rapidly growing church, but none except perhaps the highest clerics have any insight into what that plan may be. To devotees, Kossuth is the cleansing flame, the spark of innovation, the tempering force of reason, and the heart of all passion. They rank fire as the most important of the elements, and sometimes go to dangerous and damaging lengths to prove its supremacy. Kossuth is usually depicted as a huge pillar of flame boiling skyward. Clergy and Temples Throughout Faerun, temples of the Firelord actively recruit from the ranks of the poor and the disaffected, offering a regimented program of progression through self-denial. New recruits adopt a repressive, ascetic lifestyle in hopes that, through recruiting other followers, they will advance to a higher level (“terrace”) of the organization. Each new terrace offers more benefits than the one before, enticing members of the lower ranks to greater and greater acts of religious devotion to advance to the next rank. As the stakes become richer, the associated risks become greater, and the faithful often immolate themselves in display of fire’s awesome power. Such a death holds little fear for the dedicated follower, however, who believes that those who die by flame in Kossuth’s service will serve him as honored warriors in the hereafter. Skeptical outsiders view Kossuth’s church as a mysterious, highly complex organization that shuns critics but welcomes newcomers with a little too much enthusiasm. They cynically note the high death rate of young aspirants, suggesting that those in the upper echelons purposely send their inferiors on suicide missions to increase their own share of the spoils. The poor and desperate, who fill most of the lower ranks, angrily deny such accusations: For them, the Kossuthan church offers advancement through hardship that can lead to vast wealth and prestige. Clerics of Kossuth choose sunrise or high sun as their prayer time. Their liturgy holds that the sacred flame originates in the south, so they conduct all prayers and holy services facing that direction. The congregation and clerics of each temple consider the birth date of their high cleric a special holiday, lighting tremendous bonfires and making great sacrifices on such occasions. When a cleric gains a level or promoted within the church hierarchy, he or she must endure the Oath of Firewalking, a secret ceremony in which the cleric walks upon a bed of burning coals. Clerics often multiclass as monk of the order appropriate to their alignment. Some clerics multiclass as wizards or sorcerers, focusing on fire magic. A rare few become elemental archons. Clerics of Kossuth divide themselves into two factions, the Tendrils and the Burning Braziers. The Tendrils make up the bulk of the order and hold most of the ecclesiastical power. They see to the affairs of the temple, officiate at holy days and ceremonies, and preach to local Kossuthan communities. The Braziers represent the adventuring and missionary arm of the church, traveling the wilderness to bring new lands into Kossuth’s scalding, purifying light. Both factions subscribe to a strict hierarchy. A temple’s high cleric, called an Eternal Flame, represents the highest possible religious authority. All are subservient to the local Eternal Flame; Braziers tend to follow the lead of the nearest such leader during their travels. Below the Eternal Flame are various terraces holding dominance over the ranks below. Adherents on the lowest terraces deny themselves all worldly goods and pleasures, donating to the higher terraces all but the minimum needed to remain alive. (In the case of adventuring clerics, this minimum includes armor, weapons, and magic items.) As a cleric advances through the terraces, more and more rights and pleasures are granted to him, but only through great hardship and difficult--often fatal--tests of faith. Kossuth’s adherents tend to be fanatical schemers who wish to “cleanse” the world and rebuild it according to the Firelord’s dictates. Highly motivated and easily manipulated, clerics of the lower terraces tend to ‘burn out” quickly (often literally) in their efforts to advance to the next terrace. Senior clerics use their underlings as pawns, frequently sending them on missions for which they are not properly trained or equipped, so that only those of the highest skill and ambition will advance. All clerics of Kossuth share a fiery temper. They are quick to take offense and use violence to enforce the rigidity of their chosen lifestyle. The primary goal of all clerics is to acquire land, wealth, influence, and power, and few church activities involve anything that does not directly contribute to one of these goals. The church boasts no fewer than three orders of fighting monks, each corresponding to a different lawful alignment - the Disciples of the Phoenix (good), Brothers and Sisters of the Pure Flame (neutral) and the Disciples of the Salamander (evil). The Kossuthan church has held a place of importance in Thay for generations, in part because it is one of the few agencies by which non-Mulan Thayans can raise their station in life. Temples to Kossuth follow a ziggurat type of architecture that mirrors the structure of the church at large. Often carved from lava, these imposing edifices feature constantly burning braziers and bonfires, with several dozen adherents tasked with keeping the holy flame alive. The largest Faerunian temple of Kossuth is the Flaming Brazier, in Bezantur. History and Relations with other deities A supremely powerful elemental being known as Kossuth has lorded over fire since the earliest moments of the multiverse, through whether or not the contemporary Kossuth is the same, primordial being or one in a long line of similarly named successors is a matter of much conjecture. The Lord of Flames rarely intervenes in affairs of the moral world, spending most of his time embroiled in the intrigues of the Inner Planes. In -150 DR, powerful Raumatharan wizards managed to summon Kossuth from his elemental home and instructed him to destroy a besieging army from hated Narfell. This he did, but he soon turned against the wizards, incinerating their city for their arrogance. The resulting conflagration consumed much of the northern coast of the Alambar Sea, and the fires of Kossuth anger burned stronger for more than a decade after his withdrawal from Toril. He appears to have paid little attention to the world since, though his faithful in Thay credit him with intervening in the disastrous Salamander War of 1357 DR and preventing that from becoming an even greater debacle. Kossuth’s name is not among the deities spotted in Faerun during the Time of Troubles, which suggests either that he somehow escaped Ao’s wrath or simply kept quiet as the world fell apart around him. Kossuth’s doctrine of elemental supremacy virtually ensures conflict with the other elemental lords, and the Lord of Flames harbors especial hatred for Istishia, whom he views as pathetic and weak. In response, the King of the Water Elementals instructs his followers to work against the plans of Kossuth at every turn. Open warfare between the two clergies is rampant. The Firelord interacts very little with the other deities of Faerun. Moradin and Flandal Steelskin honor him for the heat of the forge, but he barely responds. The return of Bane pleases Kossuth, however; the two deities seem to agree on the importance of a strong religious hierarchy and have a common intolerance for the ephemeral and unpredictable nature of chaos. Dogma Those fit to succeed will do so. Kossuth’s faith is innately superior to all other faiths, particularly that of Istishia. Fire and purity are the same. Smoke is produced by air in its jealousy. The reward of successful ambition is power. Reaching a higher state is inevitably accomplished by difficulty and personal pain of some sort. Kossuth sends his pure fire to cleanse us all and temper our souls so that we can achieve a pure state. Expect to be tested, and rise to the challenge, no matter what difficulty and pain it brings. Those above you proven their worth and deserve your service. Guide others to Kossuth’s pure light so that he may reforge all life into its essential form. See Also * Kossuth on Forgotten Realms Wiki * Kossuth on Wikipedia References Category:Deities Category:Greater Deities Category:Deities for Lawful Good Category:Deities for Lawful Neutral Category:Deities for Lawful Evil Category:Deities for Neutral Good Category:Deities for True Neutral Category:Deities for Neutral Evil Category:Deities for Chaotic Neutral Category:Deities of Nature Category:Any Race Deities